Henkel signed an agreement to acquire the Asia-Pacific Professional Hair business of Shiseido.
WHO: Shiseido's Professional Hair business consists of haircare, hair color, perm, straightening, styling, and other professional products mainly to hair salons in Japan and Asia. The Shiseido Professional brand is a comprehensive business that covers a wide range of products and brands such as Sublimic, Primience, and Crystallizing.
Founded in 1876, Henkel operates globally with a well-balanced and diversified portfolio. The company holds leading positions with its three business units in industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations, and technologies. In 2021, Henkel reported sales of more than 20 billion euros and employs about 53,000 people globally.
WHY: Shiseido is confident that integration of its Professional business, whose brands are well established in Japan and Asia, with the Henkel Group, which possesses an extensive track record in the hair category in Europe and the United States, will provide the business with global-level investment opportunities and business structure.
For Henkel the transaction marks another step in strengthening its Hair Professional business in recent years. Henkel's Professional Hair Care business holds leading market positions in various international market segments. The business is among the top three beauty companies worldwide. It offers a broad portfolio of haircare, hair styling, and coloration brands exclusively for hairdressers, such as Schwarzkopf Professional, Bonacure, Igora Royal, and Authentic Beauty Concept. It generates sales of more than 1 billion euros and will be part of the future Henkel Consumer Brands business unit. This new multicategory platform will be established through the merger of the Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care business units latest by beginning of 2023.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: "As part of our strategic agenda for purposeful growth, compelling acquisitions play a key role in actively shaping our portfolio. This transaction is a step-change for Henkel's Hair Professional business. By expanding our Professional business in Asia-Pacific, we will become one of the leading players in this highly dynamic region with attractive future growth potential. This move will also further strengthen our Hair Professional business which has already shown a very strong development in the past years and will be an integral part of our future Consumer Brands business unit," said Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel.
"We are excited about the opportunity to add these strong and successful premium brands to our Professional portfolio. This business is a perfect strategic fit to our existing portfolio, adding highly complementary brands and hair categories whilst significantly expanding our position in the attractive Asia-Pacific market. The transaction will enable us to create an innovation and growth platform for our Professional business in this very exciting region aiming for further business growth and development through the agreement with Shiseido. We will significantly increase our market position in Japan and China, the world's top 2 and 3 Hair Professional markets and important centers of trends and innovations," said Wolfgang König, Executive Vice President Beauty Care at Henkel.
“The salon business is in a different category from our core business, and requires different know-how than the skin care business," Shiseido's President and Chief Executive Officer Masahiko Uotani, said. "There are certain things that we can't always deal with completely, and so it is better for us to put skin care brands at the center of what we do and to partner with other companies that we can trust in other categories.”
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